The Asheville Urban Odyssey – It’s A Little Mad

Asheville Running Experience – Asheville Urban Odyssey

We are often asked where the idea for the Asheville Urban Odyssey originated. Many think it is from NBC’s Amazing Race, but its genesis goes back much farther.

Before we start the history lesson, a little explanation is in order. The Asheville Urban Odyssey is part of the Asheville Running Experience (ARX) on September 22-24. This event includes a packet pickup party called The Happening and three running races all over one weekend. The races require some athletic ability and training but the Urban Odyssey does not. It merely requires a team of four with a sense of fun and adventure and a smart phone.

The teams are asked to visit eight locations on our course. They will receive the first clue at our headquarters – Hi Wire Brewing on Hilliard Street. Once they discover that location one member of the team will be required to complete a challenge before receiving their next clue. Each team member must complete two challenges before heading back to Hi Wire for their final challenge that stops the clock. Each member of the winning team receives a gift card from our presenting sponsor, Frugal Backpacker.

Now, back to history. The Asheville Urban Odyssey is homage to the great (and not so great) scavenger hunt movies of our childhood. 1963’s It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Mouse Trap and the Da Vinci Code, plus others, inspired our thinking and gave us some great ideas. Besides the big prize at the end of the hunt, these films were action and thought oriented.

For the Asheville Running Experience (ARX), we wanted one event where athletic ability didn’t necessarily win the day. We wanted an event that also required thinking and appealed to people of all ages; where a group of friends or a family with multiple generations could join together and learn a thing or two about our city of Asheville.

This is the Asheville Urban Odyssey and we hope you will put a team together and join us for an adventure.